Objective To determine whether the use of 18F-FDG PET/CT alters staging and management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) when compared with MRI staging practice;and to explore the relation of standard uptake value (SUV) of 18F-FDG PET/CT and the pathological classification and T staging of NPC. Methods The study was performed retrospectively on a group of 41 patients with a new diagnosis of NPC. All the patients underwent whole body PET/CT scanning and head & neck MRI scanning within 3 weeks of each other. The AJCC protocol was introduced to stage NPC and the results of the PET/CT were compared with MRI based on pathologic diagnosis. Results ①Primary tumor:the accuracy of T staging of PET/CT was significantly higher than MRI (85.37% vs 60.98%,U=2.49,P

AIM:To study the effects of astragali radix extract(ARE)on renal resistance to atrial natriuretic peptide(ANP)in rats with experimental nephrotic syndrome.METHODS:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into normal control,adriamycin nephropathy(ADR),ADR treated with ARE(2.5 g? kg-1? d-1)and ADR treated with benazepril(10 mg? kg-1? d-1).After 6 weeks,rats received intravenous infusion of 2% body weight isotonic saline.Urinary cGMP excretion(UcGMPV),plasma ANP level,renal PDE5 activity and protein expression were also detected.RESULTS:ARE increased UNaV while ACEI was not natriuretic.Nephrotic rats had a blunted natriuretic response and reduced rate of UcGMPV after volume expansion despite higher plasma ANP concentration.ARE increased UcGMPV and restored partly natriuretic response to volume expansion.The activity and protein abundance of renal PDE5 were high in nephrotic rats.ARE significantly reduced the PDE5 activity and protein expression.CONCLUSION:ARE may ameliorate the renal resistance to ANP in rats with adriamycin nephropathy by inhibiting the PDE5.

Objective To design a method to characterize AOPPs. Methods Carbonyl groups were used as an oxidative index to link AOPPs and oxidized protein. Plasma-AOPPs were obtained by a series of preparation as follows. The native plasma was first determined for its protein contents followed by AOPPs level evaluation. Specimen was then washed with PBS and ultrafiltrated with an ultrafilter (10 000 cut-off membrane) to obtain clean plasma-AOPPs. A size-exclusion HPLC technique was used to verify which protein was oxidatively damaged. Fractions resulted from delipidation were also examined. Results The levels of AOPPs and total carbonyl groups in patient plasma were significantly higher than those in controls; both in native/delipidated plasma and CHC13-resulted precipitate. HPLC revealed that serum albumin presented highest carbonyl levels. It was an exclusive protein with statistically significant difference between controls and patients (patients vs. controls in nmol carbonyl/mg protein: HSA: 1.510?0.067 vs. 0.791?0.048, P

Objective To study the effects of oxidants on the structure of albumin. Methods Using both AOPPs and protein carbonyl content as indices. The oxidative stress level in normal controls and uremia patients was evaluated. Albumin in plasma was purified by HPLC and then was subjected to amino acids composition assay. Results Both AOPPs level and protein carbonyl content in uremic patients were significantly higher than those in controls (P

Objective To isolate new conotoxins of Conus textile from the South China Sea,provide new conopeptides for drug discovery and design, and investigate the effects of living environment on toxin secretion by comparing the compositions of the conotoxins of this species from different areas. Methods Crude conotoxins were purified by Sephadex G-25 and RP-HPLC, the amino acid sequences of the purified peptides were determined. Results More than 10 conotoxins were isolated from Conus textile, 4 conotoxins were firstly isolated and 6 conotoxins had the similar sequence as the reported peptides. Conclusion Many M-family conotoxins were isolated from Conus textile, the main compositions of the venom of Conus textile from the South China Sea were similar to those from Cebu and Marinduquc island in Philippines.

Objective:To evaluate the value of adenosine triphophate (ATP)stress/rest nuclide myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI)in the diagnosis of female patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).Methods:The clinical materials of 47 female suspected CHD patients were retrospectively analyzed,aged from 39 to 74 years,and the average age was (53.7±6.3)years old.All patients were hospitalized and underwent two-day ATP stress and rest nuclide MPI and coronary angiography (CAG)in two weeks. The results and images of MPI and CAG were evaluated by more than 2 attending physicians. Using CAG as the “gold standard”, the diagnostic efficiency (sensitivity, specificity and accuracy) of MPI for CHD was evaluated. Results:Compared with CAG, the sensitivity,specificity and accuracy of ATP stress MPI in diagnosing the female CHD patients were 81.3% (13/16),77.4% (24/31)and 78.7% (37/47)individually;the positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 65.0% (13/20)and 88.9% (24/27).There were no severe adverse effects in the ATP stress test and the incidence of adverse effects was 85.1%.Conclusion:There is a highly diagnostic efficiency of ATP stress MPI in the CHD patients.It can be the first choice of examination methods for screening without injury and diagnosing the myocardial ischemia in the female patients.

ObjectiveTo discuss two fixation methods of nasotracheal intubation on the occurrence of nasal pressure sores in patients with maxillofacial surgery.MethodsThree hundred cases of patients under general anesthesia more than 4 hours with the nasal endotracheal intubation were randomly assigned into control group and experiment group with 150 cases in each group.In control group,medical tape was used to fix the endotracheal tube to dorsum,wrapping around the joint of endotracheal tube and threaded pipe.In experiment group,Mepilex foam dressing was used to wrap over the bend of endotracheal tube,with gauze covering the joint of endotracheal tube and threaded pipe before fixing the endotracheal tube to dorsum.Finally,the occurrence of pressure sores from the end of surgery to postoperative 1day were compared between the two groups.ResultsThe incidence of patients with first stage pressure sores was 4.7% in control group while none in experiment group.The incidence of nasal pressure sores was much lower in experiment group than that in control group (P<0.05).ConclusionsThe use of Mepilex foam dressing can reduce the pressure and friction between the endotracheal tube and the dorsum,which effectively prevents nasal pressure sores caused by endotracheal intubation.Therefore when having surgery with nasal general anesthesia and nasotracheal intubation and lastsing over 4 hours,the use of application covering the bend of endotracheal tube can prevent nasal pressure sores.

Objective To study whether the uremic toxins accumulated long-term in uremia patients may be involved in oxidation of protein by forming advanced oxidative protein products (AOPPs). Methods Malonylaldehyde (MDA), hippuric acid (HA) and p-cresol were used as the representatives of uremic toxins. Human albumin serum (HSA), plasma specimens from normal or uremia patients were incubated respectively with MDA (10 retool/L), HA (20 mmol/L) and p-cresol (10 retool/L) or PBS (20 retool/L, pH 7.4, as control groups) at 37℃ for 30 minutes or 24 hours, respectively. Those indices such as AOPPs, protein thiol groups (Pt-SH) and dityrosine were used as biomarkers of protein injury. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was employed to identify the aggregation and cross-links of modified proteins. Results AOPPs levels in all groups containing poison compounds were significantly increased by 121.5%(P<0.05) compared to that in control groups. Uremic toxins also resulted in over 14.7% loss in Pt-SH (P< 0.05) and 119.2% increment in dityrosine, respectively (P<0.05). Meanwhile, the formation of HMW-AOPPs in a time-dependent manner was observed by HPLC and cross-linked protein levels were significantly increased by 148.45%～333.3% in comparison with control groups. Conclusion Uremic toxins can directly mediate the damage of proteins by inducing the formation of HMW- AOPPs in a time-dependent manner, which is also one of the mechanism of AOPPs production in vivo besides the activation of the myeloperoxidase-H2O2-Cl pathway.

Objective To study the effect of oxidative modification of hydrochlorous acid (HOCl) on human serum albumin (HSA) and the relationship between the AOPPs and HOCl-treated HSA. Methods Purified HSA (60 mg/ml) was treated with HOCl (0, 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 mmol/L). Size-exclusion chromatography was applied to estimate molecular weights of oxidized products of HSA by HOCl and spectrum scan from 190 nm -400 nm was performed to observe the spectrum characteristics of all variants of HSA. Results Major products of HSA after exposure to HOC1 were dimer and hexmer of HSA. The first-order process could be employed to describe the oxidative dynamics of monomer and dimer of HSA oxidized by HOCl. To AOPPs formation mediated by oxidant was identified as pseudo first-order reaction. However, formation hexmer was much in accordance with second-order reaction. Hexmer was also a major contributor to AOPPs in all types of modified HSA. Spectral analysis showed that red shift of absorbance maximum of polymers of HSA occurred, suggesting that a possibility that polymers of HSA were cross linked by tyrosine residues in protein. Conclusions Protein aggregation is primary consequence of HSA after its exposure to HOCl. Hexmer of HSA is the major contributor to AOPPs.

Objective:To investigate the expression of miR-151a-3p in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of children with lupus nephritis (LN) and its correlation with activity and vascular damage.Methods:A total of 87 children with LN admitted in Hainan Women and Children′s Medical Center from January 2016 to March 2019 were enrolled, including 16 cases of type Ⅱ, 14 cases of type Ⅲ, 34 cases of type Ⅳ, 17 cases of type Ⅴ and 6 cases of type Ⅵ.Besides, additional 40 children with normal physical examination were selected as the healthy control group.The 87 children with LN were divided into the LN stable group (31 cases) and LN active group (56 cases) by using systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) scores.According to different proportions of the medium membrane, the patients were classified into the mild group (25 cases), moderate group (34 cases) and severe group (28 cases). Real time quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to detect the expression level of miR-151a-3p in PBMCs of each group.The correlation of the expression level of miR-151a-3p in PBMCs of LN children with the SLEDAI score and renal interstitial damage score was studied by Pearson correlation analysis. Results:The expression levels of miR-151a-3p in the LN group, LN active group and LN stable group (0.47 ± 0.06, 0.30 ± 0.04, and 0.75±0.12, respectively) were significantly lower than that in the healthy control group (1.62±0.35) (all P<0.01), and the expression level of miR-151a-3p in the LN active group (0.30±0.04) was significantly lower than that in the LN stable group (0.75±0.12) ( P< 0.01). The SLEDAI score [(14.35±4.60) points vs.(8.25±2.24) points] and renal interstitial damage score [(52.70±6.30) points vs.(34.80±4.10) points] in the LN active group were significantly higher than those in the LN stable group (all P<0.01). The expression levels of miR-151a-3p (0.18±0.02, 0.41±0.05 vs.0.83±0.16) in type Ⅴ-Ⅵ and type Ⅳ groups were significantly lower than that in the type Ⅱ-Ⅲ group (all P<0.01). The SLEDAI scores [(16.50±5.28) points, (12.36±3.74) points vs.(6.40±1.70) points] and renal interstitial damage scores [(62.70±7.40) points, (47.20±5.80) points vs.(25.80±3.50) points] in type Ⅴ-Ⅵ and type Ⅳ groups were significantly higher than those in the type Ⅱ-Ⅲ group (all P< 0.01). The expression levels of miR-151a-3p (0.20±0.02, 0.39±0.04, 0.86±0.18 vs.1.62±0.35) in severe, moderate and mild groups were significantly lower than that in the healthy control group (all P<0.01), and the expression level of miR-151a-3p decreased with the aggravation of vascular damage.The SLEDAI scores [(15.20±5.10) points, (12.85±3.90) points vs.(6.70±1.82) points] and renal interstitial damage scores [(57.30±6.80) points, (51.60±6.30) points vs.(27.20±3.60) points] in the severe and moderate groups were significantly higher than those in the mild group (all P<0.01). The expression level of miR-151a-3p in LN children was negatively correlated with the SLEDAI score and renal interstitial damage score ( r=-0.682, -0.627, all P<0.001). Conclusions:The expression level of miR-151a-3p in PBMCs of LN children is significantly decreased.The declined miR-151a-3p level is closely related to disease activity and vascular damage, and may be involved in the occurrence and development of LN.